Let's Dish celebrates first year in business

By Betsy Parker

By Betsy Parker

Times-Democrat Staff Writer

Deana Travis, owner-operator of Let's Dish in the Warrenton Center, claims that she has the answer to escalating prices at the grocery store.

Come and make this month's feature dinner at her shop (see sidebar) and spend $20 — a far cry from the nearly $60 the ingredients cost at the grocery.

A year after opening the Warrenton branch of Let's Dish, owner-operator Deana Travis relishes the age-old question: "What's for dinner?" She says it never gets old.

"Because it's always something different," said the enthusiastic entrepreneur last week as she set up for a busy Tuesday of meal prep, pre-chopping vegetables and mixing sauces for customers to assemble themselves later that day.

Let's Dish is one of several national meal-assembly franchises that cater to the busy American lifestyle, combining easy preparation and economy while retaining the "home-made" goodness that fast food can't match.

Travis, who also owns and operates Fox Trot Farm near Opal, and business partner Sandy Brookshire of Sumerduck opened last July.

"Finding the time to prepare delicious and healthy meals at home is tough," said Travis between chopping sessions. "You'd spend lots of time shopping for ingredients, having to buy more than you need (what do you do with leftover miso paste?), making a big mess in your kitchen.

"Just think: Wouldn't it be great if creating delicious home-cooked healthy dinners could be fun and easy, and not such a chore?" she asked rhetorically.

Customers create family-sized dishes at cheerful meal-preparation stations scattered through the light, open workspace. Recipes can be customized, as home cooks select a bit more, or less, of each ingredient. Your kids don't like red peppers? "Leave 'em out," was Travis' instruction. "It's your choice."

Based in Minneapolis, Let’s Dish has 28 store locations from Delaware to Washington state. Virginia has seven outlets, including Warrenton, Leesburg, Fairfax and Alexandria locations.

"We provide customers with a selection of a dozen or more entrees that are assembled at refrigerated work-stations containing all the ingredients, cut, diced or sliced, ready to be used," Travis said as she led a quick tour of the Warrenton Center space. As she walked from one stainless steel station to another, she explained the concept. "Only the actual cooking is done at home, giving new meaning to the term 'home-cooked meal'.”

In addition to pre-chopped ingredients for each dish, stations include plastic freezer bags and foil wrap, along with stick-on recipe guides and dated labels.

Let's Dish employs two full-time chefs who create seasonal recipes that can be partly filled with wholesale products from national supplier Sysco and partly supplied by local farm markets.

The chefs work to create recipes that can withstand wide varieties of ovens, recipes that pass the "freezer" test and the "kid" taste test.

"They test the recipes thoroughly," Travis said.

A handy refrigerator checklist helps the home cook keep track of what's in the freezer; menu lists remind you how long each dish takes to thaw, and suggest side dishes for each item.

Many Let's Dish meals are fully complete, but some suggest serving with pasta, for instance, or rice — items not included in the pre-packed meal.

Too busy even to dish your own? For a little higher price, the staff at Let's Dish will do it for you.

"Just pick up and go," Travis said, waving a hand at a large freezer case at the front of the store where customers choose from a variety of ready-to-cook meals.

A national trend?

The concept of meal-preparation centers has expanded to about 1,500 outlets around the nation, including another similar business in Warrenton, Tana's Kitchen.

Co-owner Tana Jackson agrees with Travis that this way of going about feeding your family can save money.

"We buy the spices," she said. "When you come in and make the meals, you can just use the teaspoon that the recipe calls for without having to buy the whole jar."

Travis and Let's Dish like to compare prices with the grocery store. Don't forget about eating out, Jackson said.

A family of four is going to spend at least $50 to eat out, Jackson reckons, and we eat out as often as we do because we don't have the time to shop, to cook, to clean up afterward.

Similar franchises include Dinner Done, with an outlet in Centreville, and Dream Dinners in Fredericksburg. Like Let's Dish and Tana's Kitchen, most offer options to the home cook with limited time.

Though walk-ins are allowed, Travis said they prefer customers to fill out an online form as to what recipes they wish to prepare, and to pre-arrange a prep session.

"That way, we're sure to have enough ingredients ready for you," she said.

Though she gets most of her meats and staples from Sysco, Travis combs local farmers' markets for in-season produce, and she's currently trying to find a local source of beef and chicken. "I'm trying to keep it 'green'," she said.

Let's Dish is located at 251 West Lee Highway in the Warrenton Center (near Borders.) Sign up at www.LetsDish.com or call (540) 347-4429.

Tana's Kitchen is located at 50 Sullivan St., Suite E. The phone is (540) 347-9872.